At the height of his business dealings in late-840’s ABY,
Tithe was controversially named No. 37 in the Top 100 Most Eligible
Tiss’Shar Bachelors, the first human ever to make the list.
(Source: Tiss'shar Vogue)
Darkness.
And yet, not a peaceful darkness.
Rather, a horrendous darkness. A darkness soundtracked by the heavy pounding of his heart inside his chest. A darkness consumed by a throbbing headache. A darkness engulfed by overwhelming nausea. A darkness slicked with perspiration running across his skin. A darkness heavy with his every mistake, fuelled by his every misstep, and incited by an unfathomable self of failure.
In a hallway outside the Galactic Alliance’s meeting room, Aerarii Tithe - Vice Chancellor of the Alliance, former Sith-Imperial Moff, and a luminary of galactic commerce - felt the crushing weight of defeat bearing down on him. The Sith Empire had not only outmanoeuvred him before the eyes of the Tiss’sharl League, they’d revealed him as a pretender. A fraud, an imposter, a man not worthy of the titles and responsibilities bestowed on him. He’d been charged with bringing the planet over to the GA, and yet he had come up short. Everyone had been counting on him, and in return, he’d let them all down.
“Tithe… Tithe… AERARII!”
A familiar voice momentarily pierced the darkness surrounding Tithe. He raised head from his knees and looked up at the aide standing over him. Sheepishly, the aide produced a handheld holoprojector displaying the likeness of Chancellor Chandra.
Tithe came face-to-face with the woman who had put all her faith in him, who had put the fate of the Alliance’s push toward Ziost and Tiss’sharl in his hands. Without Ziost, the forces slicing through Sith space alongside their New Imperial Order allies, would be cut off from their supply lines. Tithe had promised her the resources-rich world on a platter without bloodshed. And yet, here he was, cowering alone and scared in a corridor as that promise slipped through his fingers.
Adhira yelled at him to pull it together, noting that she had sent him for a reason.
The beratement seemed to pierce the heavy fog which surrounded the Aargauun. His mind paused its constant relay loop of his failures and was cast back to his first time meeting the Chancellor. He'd arrived in the Alliance with nothing, only his promise to sell out the Sith keeping the former enemy bureaucrat out of prison. He'd met Adhira shortly after his debriefing as part of the formal pardon process. From there, a surprise election as the Senator of his homeworld had followed - a surprise, of course, to the pundits, and not Tithe himself. Various committee positions had followed as he quickly climbed the ranks of the Alliance with his eyes firmly set on becoming the Chair of the Committee on Finance and Trade.
Instead, he'd leapfrogged his dream job when Adhira had come to him and offered him the role of Vice Chancellor. She had placed her trust in him, and if Tithe had learned anything from the Chancellor, it was that she was seldom mistaken. Adhira paused for a moment to check her tone before reminding Aerarii that he was perfectly capable of completing the task assigned to him.
And deep down, beyond the doubt, the fear and the darkness, he knew she was right.
“I, ah, apologies ma’am,” Tithe fumferred in response.
“I had a, well, I’m embarrassed to say, ah, an episode.” He gingerly rose to his feet and patted his chest.
“The ol’ ticker, Tithe family legacy, helped in no part by an excess of good living.” It was a strange notion that somehow a life-threatening medical condition was more palatable in the circumstances than a simple panic attack. But to admit as such would be to admit weakness or deficiency. Clogged arteries from too many nerf steaks and Naboo cream pies were comparatively a badge of honour.
“I’ll have it checked out of course,” he added, grabbing the holoprojector from the aide as he stood up straight and adopting a well-rehearsed posture. Even if he didn’t feel it on the inside, he could still project confidence with the way he carried himself.
“The Sith emissaries are adept, but we’ll have this wrapped shortly. In time for dinner, I do imagine.” He injected a dash of humour as a means of distraction.
“I’ll call back when it’s done.”
The Vice Chancellor called together the Alliance delegation and assembled them into smaller groups for the negotiation's closing stages. He and Otto would meet with Telis, while Tambor, the Executive and Brama would talk with Ingrid. That left Marlon and Enlil would talk with Alli, with each discussion attended by the League members. Once they were sorted, the groups split off into separate meeting rooms to continue the negotiations.
“Chaos theory,“ he explained as he took a seat opposite Telis.
“The search for underlying patterns and deterministic laws within seemingly random systems. Minuscule factors and changes drastically affecting outcomes.“
“Here, I can show you...“ he explained, picking up a glass of water.
“Now there's a famous experiment, dripping water on the back of your hand to demonstrate how tiny variations, microscopic imperfections can vastly affect the outcome of repeated actions.“ He looked around the room for before sighing. The scaled hands of the Tiss'shar and Telis or the artificial hands of Otto would not suffice.
“Ah, let's try a thought experiment instead. Imagine, if you will, a single planet enacting new fiscal policy, a sudden drop in the price of lutetium, a promising financier switching allegiances.“ He offered a wry smile at the final references, a thinly veiled allusion to himself.
“These events, overlooked and inconsequential at the time, set off a chain reaction of occurrences which bring us to the present day.“
Tithe rattled off the well-trodden speech as he had in hundreds of boardrooms throughout the galaxy. Falling into the familiar presentation allowed him a degree of separation from the talks and kept his nerves at bay. If he could get to the end of the talk without breaking down again, the Alliance may just be able to bring themselves equal with the Sith in the eyes of the League.
“The Sith Empire, once the most powerful government in the galaxy, now backed against the wall, encircled on all sides. The galactic core, once a stagnant haven for despots, now a shining beacon of the free market.“
He turned to address the League representative directly to make his final, impassioned plea. He could feel himself beginning to sweat again, his stomach starting to churn as his heartrates skyrocketed. He just needed a few more moments to seal the deal before he could give in to the abject fear which refused to release its vice grip on him.
“The proud people of Tiss'sharl, standing at the precipice, a galaxy of chaos laid bare before them, chaos into which many have sadly fallen, blinded by loyalties long past their prime. Yet all it takes is to grasp the opportunity which the Alliance offers, to bravely step through the chaos, and claim what is rightly yours.“
